On average, cats live between 13 and 17 years. When Boyd revealed last March that she’d spent 41% of her annual salary to prolong the life of her very senior feline, the story was picked up nationwide in the United States. (As a condition of the surgery, Boyd also adopted the donor cat, Jay.)

After the story ran, Boyd heard from many people wanting to weigh in on her decision, only some of whom she knew personally. Some readers criticised the expenditure as extravagant, while others praised her dedication to her pet.

But Boyd said at the time that she and her husband, freelance journalist Michael Yockel, are exceptionally frugal. They bought their home for US$95,000 (RM398,000) in cash and had no debt. Their thriftiness gave them the flexibility, she said, to occasionally spend large sums on things that mattered to them.

“This year-long survival milestone means (Stanley is) more likely to live a good while,” Boyd wrote on her Facebook post.